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Schoolgirl rape victim expelled for breaking curfew
Yahoo! July 18, 2013, 8:26 am
A French schoolgirl allegedly raped while on a school trip to Berlin has been expelled because she broke a curfew to be out at night.
The decision has caused outrage in France, where critics have said the girl has been made to feel guilty about the attack.
The girl was on a trip to Berlin with a party from Notre-Dame de la Providence, a private school in Thionville, in eastern France, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported.
Headteacher Francoise Lallier said the girl had been expelled with other girls "for not respecting the curfew and for landing themselves in the room of four adult men, and for consuming alcohol".
Herve Renoux, the school’s lawyer, said the girls were at fault, saying "there was an excessive consumption of alcohol which led to inappropriate conduct".
The 15-year-old girl was on a class trip to Berlin on May 28th when she left her hostel room after 10pm with a friend to meet up with a group of young Polish men who were staying on the same floor of their youth hostel, according to reports in the French media.
The girls returned to the room with the men to drink vodka.
It is then alleged that at least one of the girls was orally raped, the victim's lawyer told French news website The Local.
The incident was reported to teachers two days later. German police are investigating.
The girl’s lawyer, Frederic Richard-Maupillier, says the school is responsible for not adequately caring for a 15-year-old girl.
“This is a sanction that is incomprehensible and disproportionate in light of what happened,” he told French radio RMC.
“If there had been no assault, I’m not sure that these students, who went out past 10pm, would have been subjected to a disciplinary hearing,” he said.
